The Sealed Tomb
by TheLestrangeMistress
Summary: Bill Weasley leads a team to excavate a tomb in the Nile Valley.


**This was for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry Assignment #1. The prompt was** _Write about a group of people hunting/searching for hidden treasure,_ **and the extra prompts used were 'sparkling diamonds' and 'pilfer'. It was also for fanfiction writing month and was 1,222 words.**

Bill Weasley sighed as he looked around the ancient site he and his colleagues had been working at for the past two days. It had taken almost a day to find the proper entrance to the tomb rather one of the many trick ones they had come across.

The tomb was located deep in the middle of the Nile Valley and wasn't giving up its secrets easily. The Gringotts goblins were expecting a great horde of treasure from this place, and Bill hoped he and his colleagues could deliver it. If they didn't, he would be in the firing line as the team leader on this project.

As he walked down to where they were working, Bill noticed that there was a flurry of activity going on which meant that someone had worked out where they had to begin.

Curse breaking was a tricky field to work in. Even after you had identified all the spells that were layered together to protect the tomb, you still had to work out whether you took them down all at once or whether there was a certain order that it had to be done by. Some curses were activated when the protection spells were lifted to ensure whoever was trying to gain entry was unsuccessful.

This particular tomb had that many curses attached to the spells it was vital that they lifted them in the right order otherwise they would all be dead. It was a shame that they had not come across the wizard's work before otherwise they would have some idea as to where to start, but that didn't seem to matter now.

"Yusuf, what have you found?" Bill asked as he got to the tomb's entrance.

"Nate and I worked out which order to take the spells down. We have to tackle the curses first one by one and then we can take the protection ones down all at once. He pointed out that the curses were activated by other curses as well the protection ones so it makes sense to take them down first," Yusuf explained.

"Very good work my friend. Where is Nate now?" Bill asked.

"He's setting things up at the entrance. We think we are going to need everyone to help," Yusuf informed him.

Bill nodded.

He was grateful that Gringotts had assigned the two men to his team. He had worked under the both of them when he had first started and admired them greatly for their dedication to their work, and the way they talked the new staff through each process of the project to make sure they understood what they were doing and why. It was an approach that Bill had taken when he had new curse breakers on a project and it seemed to work better than leaving them to their own devices.

As he and Yusuf approached the entrance they saw Nate waiting for them.

"Everything is all set up, and everybody has a copy of which order the curses have to come down in. The three of us should be powerful enough to do it but the others can step in if we're struggling," Nate told them.

"Thank you. After we've taken the spells down I want us to go in carefully. I am sure that there will be a few traps that we will have to get through before we even get to the treasure," he instructed.

The next ten minutes were spent reading over Nate's notes and making sure they were correct. Once Bill was satisfied with everything he gathered everyone to start the process.

After forty minutes of pouring their magic into breaking the curses and protections surrounding the tomb the whole team found shelter under the various tents that had been set up and drank their fill of water.

The wizard who had cast the spells was obviously extremely powerful as it had never take him as long to break them down with a team before, but they had got there in the end.

"Everybody listen up. You have a break for one hour and then you are to come back to the tomb entrance," Bill announced.

"What are you going to do?" Yusuf asked.

"I'm going to rest for twenty minutes and then start exploring before the others get back. I want to at least be able to lead them to the antechamber of the tomb so they can start recording it properly whilst we try and get into the main chamber," Bill informed him

"Sounds like a good plan my friend."

As the other man walked back towards the tent where rows of cold bottled water stood, Bill edged closer to the entrance.

It took only a few minutes before he had removed a large amount of the sand and rubble and was able to get to the passageway beyond. By all accounts it was the easiest tomb he had been able to access, but he was making sure that there were no other tricks that the occupant had left; it wouldn't be good to not be careful now they were so close.

It wasn't long before he reached the antechamber and he couldn't help but feel awed at the sight before him.

The walls were covered in hieroglyphics which had been painstakingly painted, but had also been preserved perfectly by magic which made it easier for them to record and translate.

Walking back up, Bill called Nate and Yusuf to come down with the cameras.

Each wizard took several photographs of the room before moving to where the seal was for the main burial chamber. It was completely untouched which indicated that tomb robber had never found it before, or at least they had never got past all the wards and curses on it.

Nate photographed Bill and Yusuf as they carved their own entrance into the main chamber and once it was finished the three men stepped in and the light from their wands made the treasure inside glitter.

A vast horde of golden riches adorned with sparkling diamonds, emeralds, and rubies were carefully stacked throughout the chamber, but none of them compared to the sarcophagus which took pride of place in the centre.

Although the room was mostly dark, Bill could see the outline of several hieroglyphics which had been carved into the stone as well as some of the elaborate patterns of paint and gold that embellished the lid of the sarcophagus.

As the lamps were lit and everything came into view Bill felt the breath knocked out of him. The scene in front of him was magnificent. He was sure that this was how Howard Carter felt when he discovered King Tutankhamun's tomb completely untouched as well.

Bill was sure that this was the tomb of someone important and he knew that it was a great find; not just for the team but for the goblins as well. He was also thankful that he had found out that Kennedy had been pilfering before doing this job otherwise several things would have disappeared never to be seen again.

Just as then they heard the voices of the other workers making their way down. Bill hoped that they would forgive him for starting without them, but knew that they would be excited to hold and catalogue every item that was found down here.


End file.
